Rockport, Texas-based Sustainable Sea Products International (SSPI) is expanding its selection of value-added offerings – including a retail prepared-meal line – following its acquisition Dickie’s Seafood and Veteran’s Best operations.
The newly-formed company, Sustainable Sea Products International – Mid Atlantic, will offer co-packing of prepared seafood products for supermarket chains, introduce a seafood prepared-meal line and expand its current selections nationwide. Jim Salmon, one of SSPI’s directors, will head up operations and menu development for SSPI-MidAtlantic.
“Today’s consumer wants convenient, high-quality seafood that is easy to prepare and responsibly-sourced. We can deliver that now,” SSPI President Stephen White said.
SSPI is the marketing and distribution arm of Texas-based Global Blue Technologies, an innovative and unique aquaculture venture specializing in eco-friendly, bio-secure, premium Pacific white shrimp. It is “the world’s first farmed shrimp raised in commercial volumes by means of a bio-secure indoor recirculating aquaculture system (RAS),” according to a statement from the company.
The supplier markets both Copano Blues shrimp, raised without antibiotics and growth hormones and cooked American shrimp for foodservice and retail.
SSPI also produces a line of gourmet fish and chips; breaded cod, haddock and tilapia fillets; and crab macaroni and cheese, sold refrigerated and frozen to retailers. Its products are sold in Kroger, Wegmans, SuperValu and other grocery store chains throughout the U.S.
The company will now start processing and marketing Dickie’s original Devil Crab line, including Oven Crisp breaded fish and shellfish, crab cakes, cooked shrimp, sauces and butters.
“Dickie’s Seafood, and Dickie’s deviled crabs are part of Richmond culture and history. That won’t go away,” White said.
Dickie’s Richmond plant was renovated in 2016 to bring it to BRC standards.
In October 2015, Veterans’ Best purchased the assets and debts of Dickie’s Seafood from Dickie Poh, a U.S. Navy veteran who was retiring after more than three decades in the seafood business.
The successor company to Dickies’ Seafood, owned and operated by U.S. Army veterans Matthew Salisbury and Ryan Hammer, “quickly found itself in an economically untenable position,” according to a statement from SSPI. “At that point, SSPI’s parent company, Global Blue Technologies, stepped in and proved itself a champion for saving the company and its nearly 30 employee positions.”
“We truly believe the most important part of any operation is its people. We are keeping all key employees. Their average time here is over 15 years. Their knowledge and loyalty is hard to find and impossible to duplicate,” White said. “Together, we will grow sales by expanding distribution and adding new product lines to a nationwide retail, foods service, and institutional audience.”
